Our Lady of the Lake. Photo: M. Imlay
Though locals call her “Our Lady of the Lake,” this WPA-commissioned statue overlooking Echo Park Lake was actually entitled Nuestra Reina de Los Angeles (Our Queen of the Angels) when designed in 1934 by Ada Mae Sharpless.
In this Art Deco depiction, our city’s patroness stands atop a pedestal featuring iconic reliefs of the harbor, City Hall, Hollywood Bowl and San Gabriel Mountains, among other well-known Los Angeles landmarks. Originally, Sharpless had intended her 14-foot Queen of Angels to be cast in bronze. The actual monument ended up as cast stone, tying La Reina more naturally to her surroundings.
Neglected, tagged and damaged, the statue was removed from the lake and stored for “restoration” in 1986. It took 13 years and a good deal of neighborhood activism to finally secure her safe return from exile in 1999.
Disfigured.
Then, in 2008, Our Lady’s left fingers broke off (inset). Two years and numerous neighborhood council discussions later, she’s still greeting her public sans digits. (See Jenny Burman’s Chicken Corner blog post for the sordid backstory.)
Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 13-year “vacation” to remedy this latest disfigurement.
Meanwhile, while we’re waiting to find out, here’s an interesting factoid about Our Lady’s neighborhood: Echo Park was established in 1892 by carriage maker Thomas Kelly, who first called his real estate development Edendale. According to legend, however, the name was changed when builders’ voices bounced annoyingly off the canyon walls.
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Interesting piece of info about hidden L.A.
thus the name for the Edendale Grill on Rowena!
Thanks Michael.
…. you might enjoy this webpage if you havent seen it already…
http://www.historicechopark.org/
I’m surprised the ACLU hasn’t sued to have this religious statue removed from public property. (Maybe they don’t know it M-A-R-Y…shshshsh, don’t tell them!)